Newly elected Pope Francis I appears on the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica on March 13, 2013 in Vatican City, Vatican.

VATICAN CITY — In a dramatic break from tradition that many of the faithful in the developing world had been hoping for, the Roman Catholic Church has for the first time elected a pope from the Americas.

On what was a night of firsts, the College of Cardinals’ surprise choice, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the first Jesuit to be named the Vicar of Christ and the first pope to ever style himself Francis after a simple-living 13th century saint of that name who lived and worked among the poorest of the poor. This is something the Jesuit order, which has sometimes been regarded with suspicion by the Vatican, is deeply committed to.

In choosing the Archbishop of Buenos Aires as the 266th pope, the College of Cardinals signalled it is now the turn of the Church in Latin America, which is home to nearly 500 million of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, to lead.

Dec. 17, 1936:

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina

1969:

Ordained for the Jesuits.

May, 1992:

Appointed titular Bishop of Auica and Auxiliary of Buenos Aires.

1998:

Appointed bishop of Buenos Aires.

February, 2001:

Created a cardinal by John Paul II and took title of St. Robert Bellarmine.

2005:

President of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina until 2011.

Bergoglio studied philosophy at the Theological Faculty of San Miguel. He speaks Spanish, Italian and German.

– Compiled by Kirsten Smith, Postmedia News

“You know that the duty of the conclave is to provide Rome with a bishop, and it looks as if my brother cardinals have gone to the end of the earth to fetch him,” were the first words Pope Francis spoke from the balcony of the Vatican after bidding “my brothers and sisters good evening.”

Cheers of surprise and joy from a crowd of perhaps 100,000 packed into St. Peter’s Square greeted the announcement Wednesday that the first pope from the New World was Cardinal Bergoglio. It followed the traditional declaration: “Habemus papam” or “We have a pope.”

After asking the world to pray for Benedict and for him and for his new ministry as the Vicar of Christ, Francis gave the famous papal blessing, “to the city of Rome and the world.”

The Pope’s first public appearance came after the famous white smoke poured from a copper chimney atop the Sistine Chapel and the bells of St. Peter’s pealed to declare that a new pope had been elected.

Francis won on the fifth ballot and the second day of voting. After proceeding to the Room of Tears off the Sistine Chapel to be dressed in the white satin vestments of a pope, all the other 114 cardinal electors came to kneel before him, kiss his papal ring and pledge their obedience.

About one hour after a winner was declared, Francis appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to greet the rain-drenched assembly below. Many in the crowd, which included priests, turned to each other in surprise and asked who the new Pope was.

“It is a shock, but I am truly happy,” said Father Edgar Spinoza, a young Mexican priest studying at the Vatican. “I did not believe that we would have a Latin American pope this time, but I can see now that God wanted us to have one.”

Although Bergoglio had been mentioned as a possible pope, he was never considered one of the leading contenders to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, whose unexpected resignation last month provoked this conclave. In fact, Francis was such a long shot that few betting houses gave better than 25 to 1 odds that the Archbishop of Buenos Aires would win.

Underlining how much of an outsider the new Pope is, Francis — who ditched his chauffeur and often travels by bus in Argentina — has never worked inside the Vatican. However his father emigrated to Argentina from Italy and he speaks Italian well.

At 76, Francis is much older than many thought the new pope would or should be. He is believed to have been the runner-up at the last conclave in 2005, when he lost out to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict.

A priest working for the Roman Curia, the much-criticized Vatican bureaucracy, said Francis was clearly a compromise candidate who gained support after the top favourites, including cardinals from Italy and Brazil as well as Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, had effectively blocked each other and were unable to win the required two-thirds majority. But the truth of what actually happened in the conclave may not leak out for quite some time as the cardinal-electors were all sworn to secrecy on pain of “hell and damnation” as well as excommunication.

The Curia clergyman said he had met Francis at the Vatican and also at his apartment in Buenos Aires.

“He is very well known there, shows great humility, has a rigorous character and has a good formation theologically and culturally to be a pope, but also has a common man’s sense of humour,” said this priest, who declined to give his name. “I see him as an interim leader because of his age. But he is a very good choice.

“We badly need someone from overseas because such a pope can bring the Church new things. This sends us all here in Rome a big message, which is good because there must be reform. But I also expect him to follow the theological direction of Benedict because the two men have been quite close.”

That means he follows the Church’s traditional teachings of issues such as abortion, contraception and homosexuality.

Francis was chosen in one of the fastest conclaves in years, remarkable given there was no clear front-runner going into the vote and that the Church had been in turmoil following the upheaval unleashed by Pope Benedict’s resignation. For comparison’s sake, Benedict was elected on the fourth ballot in 2005 — but he was the clear front-runner going into the vote. Pope John Paul II was elected on the eighth ballot in 1978 to become the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.

Bergoglio has long stood out for his austerity. Even after he became Argentina’s top church official in 2001, he never lived in the ornate church mansion where Pope John Paul II stayed when visiting the country, preferring a simple bed in a downtown building, heated by a small stove on frigid weekends. For years, he took public transportation around the city, and cooked his own meals.

Bergoglio now inherits a church that is clamouring for change, although that change means very different things to a Catholic in Dublin, Munich or Montreal compared to a Catholic in Rio de Janeiro, Mumbai or Manila.

It is generally agreed by most clergy that the problems facing the Church are so daunting that few would want to lead it. The Pope is expected to be a charismatic evangelizer as well as a diplomat, deep theological thinker and tough administrator.

Bergoglio considers social outreach, rather than doctrinal battles, to be the essential business of the Church. He accused fellow Church leaders of hypocrisy and forgetting that Jesus Christ bathed lepers and ate with prostitutes.

“Jesus teaches us another way: Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers, go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit,” Bergoglio told Argentina’s priests last year.

The most obvious, white-hot file for Pope Francis is a global sex-abuse scandal that has implicated thousands of priests in pedophilia. But of almost equal concern to the cardinals is the chaotic state of the Vatican’s books, allegations of a gay Mafia within the Roman Curia and the nearly universal view outside the Holy See that the Curia — in effect, its bureaucracy — is deeply corrupt and in dire need of a complete overhaul.

Beyond that, but inevitably connected to the first two problems, there is a deep crisis of faith among Roman Catholics in Europe, Canada and the United States. This has resulted in a staggering, seemingly unstoppable drop-off in attendance at mass in countries such as Germany. Related difficulties include a dearth of students in seminaries, and fewer young nuns to keep the parishes functioning. These shortcomings in turn provoke questions about clerical celibacy, ordaining female priests and getting laity even more involved in the Church, a process which actually began several decades ago when priestly vocations began to diminish and the nunneries emptied.

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